Rupee plunges to record low of 55.47 against Dollar Justice VS Sirpurkar is Chairman of Competition Appellate Tribunal AK Pandey appointed as High Commissioner to New Zealand Facebook shares drop below issue price FM okays transfer & posting orders of Commissioners of Customs & Excise-A dozen Commissioners posted in NCR in transfer list-Commissioner Gurgaon & Ghaziabad also in the list according to North Block sources Government tables White Paper on Black Money in Parliament India's first Interactive Online Course on Service Tax launched-Click on the link-Service Tax Online Certification Course-for full details and registration-Course begins on 22nd May 167 IRS(Customs & Excise) Probationers get postings- A dozen Probationers posted in Delhi Central Excise Rajya Sabha passes Finance Bill 2012 Petrol & Diesel prices to be hiked Tariff Value for import of Brass scrap is 4362 & for poppy seeds 3680-for gold 507 per 10 gram & for silver 920 per kg-Customs Non-Tariff Notification No.42 Customs duty exempted on import of 191 Products from Singapore-Customs Tariff Notification No.33 Import of 485 Products from Singapore exempted from Customs duty-Customs Tariff Notification No.34 Import of 496 Products from Singapore exempted from 50 per cent of applied rate of duty-Customs Tariff Notification No.35 Saurabh Chandra gets additional charge of Commerce Secretary ITAT Member N Vasudevan transferred from Mumbai to Bangalore-J Sudhakar Reddy moves from Mumbai to Delhi-IP Bansal from Delhi to Mumbai-IC Sudhir from Pune to Delhi CVD on imported electronics lowered due to higher rates of abatement from RSP notified-Abatement from MRP for excise payment on all electronic products prescribed at uniform rate of 35 per cent-Abatement revised for several products-Central Excise Non-Tariff Notification No.26 Suppliers to Mega Power Projects face silly excise demands-Click on the link below for full details Excise demand of Rs 32 Crore confirmed against Exide for not paying excise on MRP basis on lead acid storage battery RBI says Exporters required to convert 50 per cent of their foreign exchange holdings into Rupee within 15 days-Exporters will be allowed to buy foreign currency only after utilizing all their foreign currency holdings Articles of jewellery exempted from excise duty-Specified Railway Goods manufactured by Government exempted from excise -Central Excise Tariff Notification No.23 Excise on specified Petroleum Oils lowered Eye makeup preparations exempted from excise The excise exemption hitherto admissible on all Hawai Chappals will now be admissible to only Hawai Chappals of RSP up to Rs 500-Polyester staple fibre or polyester filament yarn, manufactured from plastic scrap or plastic waste including waste polyethylene terephthalate bottles exempted from excise-Excise on Motor chassis for vehicles lowered to 14 per cent excise-Excise on LED Lights of Chapter 85 lowered to 6 per cent-Inks for ball point pens exempted from excise-Central Excise Tariff Notification No.24-Parts of Footwear and hawai chappals of RSP not exceeding Rs. 500 per pair exempted from excise if consumed in factory-Central Excise Tariff Notification No.25-Excise exemption to goods required for initial setting up of solar power generation project or facility-Central Excise Tariff Notification No.26 CENVAT Credit (Fifth Amendment) Rules, 2012-No reversal of credit required for supplies made for setting up of solar power generation projects or facilities-Central Excise Non-Tariff Notification No.25 exemption from wholeof the additional duty leviable shall not apply to Hand held Metal/Mine/Bomb detectors etc.-Customs Tariff Notification No.30 Import of specified goods allowed at concessional rate of duty-Customs Notification No.31 FM defers the applicability of GAAR provisions by one year- GAAR provisions will now apply to income of Financial Year 2013-14 and subsequent years-The retrospective clarificatory amendments now under consideration of Parliament will not be used to reopen any cases where assessment orders have already been finalized-long term capital gain arising from sale of unlisted securities in case of non-resident investors, including PE investors lowered to 10 per cent-FM extends benefit of tax exemption on long term capital gains to sale of unlisted securities in IPO-lower rate of withholding tax of 5% for funding all businesses-FM withdraws the provision for levy of TDS on transfer of immovable property-FM raises the threshold limit for TCS on cash purchases of jewellery to Rs.5 lakh-only serious offences under the customs law involving prohibited goods or duty evasion exceeding Rs.50 lakh, shall be cognizable- all these offences shall be bailable-changes in the definition of “service” which will exclude the activities specified in the Constitution as “deemed sale of goods”-The definition of “works contract” also enlarged to include movable properties- Exemption for specified services relating to agriculture in the Negative List extended to agricultural produce enlarging the scope of the entry Anti-dumping duty on imports of Partially Oriented Yarn, originating in, or exported from China-Customs Notification No.22 Customs duty on import of 806 Products from Japan lowered Anti-dumping duty imposed on import of Phosphoric Acid of all grades and all concentrations (excluding Agriculture/FertilizerGrade) , falling under tariff item 28092010, originating in, or exported from,Israel and Taiwan-Customs Tariff Notification No.19 Customs duty on import of composite fertiliser lowered to 1 per cent-Customs Tariff Notification No. 24

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F. No. 341/11/98, TRU, dated 23-8-1999

I am directed to invite your attention to Section 68 (2) of the Finance Act, 1994 which, inter alia provides for payment of service tax by a person other than the person providing taxable service. You may be aware that in respect of services rendered by clearing and forwarding agent, the service tax was made payable by the person engaging such agent vide sub-clause (iii) of Clause (d) to Section 2(1) of Service Tax Rules, 1994.

2.You may also be aware that in the case of Laghu Udyog Bharati & Anr. v. Union of India and Others in Writ Petition No. 53 of 1998 [1999 (112) ELT 365 (S.C.)], the Hon’ble Supreme Court had passed an order holding that the sub-rules (xvii) and (xii) of Rule 2(1)(d), insofar as it makes person other than the clearing and forwarding agent or the person other than the goods transport operator as being responsible for collecting service tax are ultra vires to the Finance Act, 1994 itself. It may be noted that the sub-rule (xvii) was omitted as the levy on the service rendered by goods transport operator was removed from the scope of levy of service tax in 1998 budget. The sub-rule (xii) relating to services provided by clearing and forwarding agent, is continued as sub-rule (iii) of Service Tax Rules, 1994 (in the amended form) vide Notification No. 54/98-S.T., dated 7-10-1998, which came into effect from 16-10-1998.

3.It has been decided now, to do away with the above method of payment of service tax by an alternate person other than the person providing the taxable service in respect of clearing and forwarding agents. In other words, the clearing and forwarding agents will henceforth pay the service tax in respect of taxable services rendered by them. Accordingly Notification No. 7/99-S.T., dated 23rd August, 1999 has been issued in this regard (copy enclosed). This will come into force with effect from 1st September, 1999.

4.It may be noted that the value of taxable service rendered by clearing and forwarding agent continue to remain as the gross amount of remuneration or commission (by whatever name called) paid to such agent by the principal or the client engaging such agent as provided under sub-rule (8) to Rule 6 of the Service Tax Rules, 1994.

5.The provisions relating to registration furnishing of returns and assessment as in existence will continue to apply on the clearing and forwarding agents who will now be liable to pay the service tax as per Section 68(1). The Commissioners should issue suitable trade notices for information and guidance of the trade. The trade notices may include the procedure to be followed for registration, maintenance of documents, filing of returns and manner in which the service tax is to be paid. The trade notice should provide complete information and guidance to the assessees and they should be selfcontained in all respects. The field officers are also requested to kindly provide all assistance and guidance to the assessees in explaining the provisions of service tax and in clarifying their doubts. All possible steps may kindly be taken by the Commissioners to facilitate smooth implementation of the levy of service tax on the clearing and forwarding agents.